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Thursday, May 18, 2017

May 18, 1980

Ready
for another Throwback Thursday entry? I guarantee that this week's topic might
spark some "heated" discussion and could cause some to "blow
their tops", but it's definitely one of the events that made May 18 a very
explosive date in history!

Let's have a look at what else happened on the eighteenth of May in this
selection of postings.

1565 - The Great Siege of Malta begins

1652 - Rhode Island passes the first law in
English-speaking America that makes owning a slave illegal

1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor
of France; exactly one year after the United Kingdom revoked the Treaty of
Amiens

1812 - John Bellingham is found guilty of
assassinating British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval and is sentenced to death

All
right...now what I really wanted to do was find a topic that corresponded with
my actual date of birth...but nothing really exciting happened. In fact, one of the most talked about
historical events of May 18 happened before I was born, and I missed it
completely.

That event happened on May 18, 1980. And I'm sure if you were living on the West Coast of the United
States or Canada at that time, you probably already know the subject I have
chosen. For those that don't, I'll tell
you.

I'm sure most of us have built one of those volcano models for a science fair
project at some point in our lives.
It's one of the most replicated science projects all over the world, but
yet there's still something satisfying about mixing baking soda and vinegar
together to create a messy chain reaction that sends torrents of
"lava" cascading down the volcano's Play-Doh sides!

Of
course, the lava that was used inside the classroom volcanoes was mostly
harmless - provided you didn't get any in your eyes, of course. In real life, volcanoes can be quite
deadly. It's not just the molten rock
and magma flowing out the top of the volcano that you have to worry about. The poisonous ash and potential rock slides
can also be a nightmare to deal with as well.

I mean, just ask Diddy and Dixie Kong about just how dangerous a volcano can
be!

While
there have been several instances of volcanic eruptions that have taken place
all over the world over the last million years or so - in recent history there
have only been two that have taken place in North America. One was the Lassen Peak eruption in
California that took place in 1915. The
second one took place thirty-seven years ago today. And it was a much larger, much deadlier blast.

This is the story of the Mount St. Helens volcanic
eruption. One that I missed by 365 days.

While
the actual eruption took place on May 18, 1980, signs that all was not right
with the mountain began to show up a little over two months earlier. In March 1980, a series of small earthquakes
started to take place on and around the mountain. The people in the area didn't think too much of it at first,
given that the west coast of the United States and Canada was covered with
fault lines. And prior to 1980, the
volcano was dormant for well over one hundred years.

A few days after the series of tiny earthquakes began, a much larger 4.2 quake
took place on March 20, centered below the north flank of the volcano, which
was essentially the warning to everybody that magma was starting to flow
underneath and that the volcano was becoming active once more. Over the next few weeks leading up to the
weekend of May 17, 1981, a series of earthquakes took place almost like
clockwork, with the intensity gradually increasing each time. The vibrations within the mountain would
cause sheets of snow and ice to cascade down the side. By the end of March, a few craters opened up
at the top of the mountain thanks to the consistent seismic activity, and smoke
began to billow out the top. A state of
emergency was declared the first week of April, and by the first of May,
Governor Dixy Lee Ray had ordered a "red zone" to be extended around
the perimeter of the volcano. Anyone
who was caught within the red zone would be subjected to a $500 fine, or be
jailed for half a year.

During
the first part of May, it seemed as though things were calming down, and tests
that were done prior to May 18 showed that there were no changes that would
indicate a massive eruption. But at
8:32 am on the morning of May 18, those test results would blow up in
everybody's faces.

It
was at that time that a 5.1 magnitude earthquake took place directly below the
north slope, and it was that earthquake that caused that slope to fall
apart. It triggered the largest
landslide in recorded history! The
rocks toppled thousands of trees, and temporarily displaced the water that was
within Spirit Lake.

As
a result of the landslide, a gigantic ash cloud billowed out the top of the
volcano with its estimated height reaching approximately 24 kilometres high and
its diameter being 64 kilometres wide!
No wonder the entire area around the volcano was blanketed with lots of
ash! A pyroclastic flow of lava poured
out of the volcano. At one time, the
lava flow was so quick it reached a top speed of 670 mph! The temperature of the lava was extremely
hot as well, with the highest temperature recorded at approximately 680 degrees
Fahrenheit.

Unfortunately, the explosion at Mount St. Helens
caused more than just a lot of damage and permanent disfiguration of the area
around the volcano. Those unlucky
enough to be in the path of destruction didn't live to tell the tale. A total of fifty-seven people were killed
that day - though not because of the intense heat of the lava. Most of those who died succumbed to
suffocation caused by the intense smoke and ash that rained down above them,
though a few did have fatal burn wounds caused by the lava and the fires that
erupted.

Among the deceased were lodge owner Harry R. Truman, aged 83. He refused to leave his home outside of the
mountain despite the red zone being put in place and the mandatory evacuations
that were in effect at the time. Also
caught in the path of destruction was volcanologist David A. Johnston, and a
pair of photographers - National Geographic's Reid Blackburn and Robert
Landsburg. Incredibly, Landsburg's
camera footage survived, as his body protected the film inside.

It's been almost four decades since the eruption of Mount St. Helens. A large crater where the north face once was
remains. The direct area of the blast
is still very much a wasteland of sorts, with dead trees littering various
parts of the area and holes in the ground where trees once stood. Scorch marks can still be seen in some areas
due to the lava and fires that spread throughout the area. The mountain which once stood at 9,677 feet
in height lost over 1,300 feet in height following the eruption. The estimated cost of the disaster was well
over $1.1 billion.

And yet, to this day, Mount St. Helens remains an active volcano of sorts, with
the last recorded eruption taking place in January 2008. It's unclear as to whether or not the
volcano could erupt once more and cause more damage, but I'm sure anybody who was
around on May 18, 1980 won't even forget that day.